Impinj Reveals Worldwide Distribution Strategy for High Performance Speedway Gen 2 Reader

SEATTLE, Wash., May 1, 2006 – Impinj, Inc., the number one supplier of Gen 2 RFID chips and a market leader in embedded nonvolatile memories, today announced its channel strategy of partnering with value-added resellers (VARs) and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to deliver production quantities of its high performance Speedway™ Gen 2 RFID reader to customers in North America, Asia and Europe.

A key component of Impinj’s GrandPrix™ RFID solution, the Speedway reader addresses the two most important RFID performance criteria for retail environments — read reliability and operation in dense reader mode. Impinj’s Speedway reader received EPCglobal™ Gen 2 certification and complies with FCC part 15 regulations as well as the Restriction of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS) Directive (2002/95/EC). Manufactured at facilities certified to the ISO 9002:2000 quality standard, all Speedway units undergo extensive testing prior to shipment.

Impinj’s Speedway reader delivers superior performance with several unique features, including:

• True Dense-Reader Mode: Speedway exceeds EPCglobal specifications for dense reader mode operation and has been successfully tested in distribution centers with very high reader densities (more than 25 readers transmitting in the space occupied by three adjacent dock doors.) Under these harsh conditions, Speedway readers exhibit virtually no degradation in performance.
• Zero Synch: Speedway readers do not require or use proprietary synchronization schemes in North American dense-reader environments.
• Mach1™ Application Programming Interface (API): Speedway readers provide a powerful, Linux-based interface, enabling Gen 2 middleware and application software suppliers to easily develop and integrate custom reader applications.
• Item-level Tag Capability: Crucial for the pharmaceutical, apparel and digital media industries; Impinj’s solution is the first and only to provide a single RFID infrastructure for all tagging scenarios including those for palettes, cases and individual items.
• Monostatic Antenna: Impinj’s patented interference rejection technology allows Speedway readers to utilize low cost, monostatic antennas without compromising performance, whether used in single reader mode or dense reader mode. Speedway readers never require costly bistatic antennas.

In addition to the Speedway reader, Impinj’s GrandPrix solution includes the Monza™ Gen 2 tag chip and a companion family of tag antennas optimized for use with Monza chips. As the sole tag chip available in production and certified by EPCglobal, Monza tag chips have enabled all Gen 2 RFID deployments to date.

“The production launch of Impinj’s Speedway reader is a key milestone for the company, and the RFID industry,” said Michael J. Liard, RFID Program Director at analyst firm VDC. “With Impinj’s Monza RFID tag chips becoming increasingly entrenched in the global retail supply chain, companies are appreciating, understanding and expecting the high level of performance and quality that Impinj’s RFID products, including the Speedway reader, deliver.”

“We are very pleased by the strong demand we’re experiencing for our Speedway reader,” said William Colleran, president and CEO at Impinj. “The cost-effective, yet high performance components of the GrandPrix RFID solution have been well-received by leading supply chain companies, and we expect continued growth in demand.”

Impinj has licensed the Speedway reader to OEMs, including NEC TOKIN Corporation in Japan and Hong Kong-based Convergence Systems Limited (CSL). The Speedway reader is now available to North American VARs for volume shipments early this summer, while versions conforming to European and Japanese regulations are slated for availability in the fourth quarter of this year.

About Impinj, Inc.
Impinj, Inc. is a fabless semiconductor company whose patented Self-Adaptive Silicon® technology enables its two synergistic business lines: high performance RFID products and innovative semiconductor intellectual property (IP). A leading contributor to the RFID standards for high volume supply-chain applications worldwide, Impinj leverages its technical expertise and industry partnerships to deliver the GrandPrix™ solution, comprising tags, readers, software and systems integration to offer RFID that just works™. Impinj’s innovative IP products, core to the company’s RFID tags, are licensed to leading semiconductor companies worldwide, allowing them to seamlessly integrate crucial nonvolatile memory (NVM) alongside analog and digital functionality on a single chip. Impinj's IP products include the popular AEON® family of embedded cores, which provides rewriteable NVM technology in logic CMOS manufacturing. For more information, visit www.impinj.com.